Chokecherry
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Any of several American wild cherry trees, especially Prunus virginiana.
"The youngster-loved chokecherry grows both as a bushy shrub and as a tree seldom higher than 22 feet, its branches bending with clusters of darkening red or blackish purple berrylike drupes . . ."
- 2 a common wild cherry of eastern North America having small bitter black berries favored by birds wordnet
- 3 The fruit of this plant.
"There were handfuls of chokecherries for dessert and a lemonade made from sumac."
- 4 the fruit of the chokecherry tree wordnet
Example
More examples"The youngster-loved chokecherry grows both as a bushy shrub and as a tree seldom higher than 22 feet, its branches bending with clusters of darkening red or blackish purple berrylike drupes . . ."
Etymology
From choke + cherry, so called from the extreme astringency of the fresh fruit.
Related phrases
More for "chokecherry"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.